The staff at BuzzFeed came up with a bunch of ONLINE etiquette rules. Not all of them are great, but here are a few good ones: If someone sends you a meme you’ve already seen, “haha” it anyway. Group more of your short texts into one longer text. And never FaceTime someone out of the blue, ask first.
The staff at BuzzFeed came up with 61 different ONLINE etiquette rules we should all be following. But not all of them are that good. Some are dumb, or oddly specific to things like Twitter’s “Circle” feature, or the app BeReal.
But here are a few I found interesting . . .
1. If someone sends you a meme you’ve already seen, “haha” it anyway. Saying “yeah, I already saw that” just seems kind of rude.
2. When you put someone on speakerphone, give them a heads up if someone’s with you. We’ve had speakerphones for a long time, but people still don’t follow that rule.
3. No more than two food photos at the table. If you’re someone who posts photos of meals, the limit is one photo, and one more if the first one was blurry.
4. “Deep likes” are creepy. That’s when you go in and like a photo from six years ago. You’ve obviously been scrolling through their feed way too long.
5. Your main dating profile pic can’t be a group photo. If it is, you’re making people guess which person you are.
6. You should unfollow your friends’ exes out of solidarity. The exception is when it’s amicable, and they’re still friends.
7. Never text just the word “hi” or “hey.” It’s a waste of time and creates an annoying extra “ding” for them to deal with. In general, you should combine more of your short texts into one longer text.
8. Never FaceTime someone out of the blue, ask first. It’s rude to start a video chat without asking. Then THEY feel rude if they don’t want to pick up.
9. People over 30 shouldn’t use GIFs. Isn’t that one just kinda ageist?
10. If you “like” a comment on someone’s post, like the post too. Otherwise it’s like saying their post was fine, but their friend’s comment was much better. Quote, “If you’re going to be at the party, thank the host.”